The following is an excerpt from Chapter 2 of my book Stress and Adaptation in Physiology. This chapter is about stressors and adaptive responses, and this specific excerpt is about the timing and duration of exposure to stressors. These parameters often make the difference between a poison and a medication.

Introduction

I’ve developed a long-term relationship with cold stress. My early experimentation started in the winter of 2012 when I began taking very cold showers.

Cold is not your friend, yet it can help you become more resilient. Cold exposure is unappealing and unpopular. It is only used by the very few. But, why is that?

Because (imho) when cold exposure leads to shivering thermogenesis it may make you feel miserable. And this requires you to step out of the coziness of your comfort zone. You could now see the unsurprising incompatibility between the average Joe (most people) and cold stress.

Introduction

Honestly, I don’t know much about Ellington Darden. I kept his latest book on my reading list for a couple of months until I recently picked it up.

His strategy to losing weight and building muscle at the same time is from a multiple perspective, which I cannot but sympathize with.

His book includes various case studies and pictures of his clients and research subjects. I cannot attest the validity of those results and I’ll admit that some of the before/after pictures seem suspicious to me.

Anyway, part of his approach to helping people lose weight and build muscle at the same time involves the use of cold exposure. If you’ve been following my blog you know that I use CT since late 2012, and I’ve been doing it almost daily since 2013. I didn’t write much about it yet though…

Intro

About a week ago I was listening to a podcast of Tim Ferriss with Tony Robbins (direct link). In their discussion, Tony talked about his habits and at a certain point he mentioned cryotherapy.

That triggered an image into my mind from the movie The Demolition Man where Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes were frozen for 36 years in a cryo-penitentiary. Then, they were restored to life in the year 2032 where the action of the movie takes place.

Long story short, the cryotherapy used by Tony refers to going inside a cabin (like a tanning booth) and being exposed to liquid nitrogen which lowers the temperature inside to as low as -180 °C and sometimes even lower.

The total maximum exposure time for 1 session of cryotherapy is 3 minutes. More can and may lead to skin damage and frost bites of the extremities.